Very beautiful, Mark. I don't really think the "unlimited" moniker is sufficient, however. If I can stumble across an appropriate superlative, I will let you know.

Thanks mcgr40. Please do let me know, this series I’m doing will be a pretty diverse group so I took unlimited because I just couldn’t think of another way to describe it. I’m certainly open to suggestions!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deft Tungsman

I always take an interest in watching your build threads on the Forum, Mr. Hatcher, and your work never fails to impress. But this time you've outdone even yourself!

On an unrelated note, do you have any time for your family? Friends? Breathing?

Thanks for commenting Deft Tungsman. This is what I do full-time and I’m fortunate enough to be able to pursue my passion doing this. My wife Karen is just as passionate about what she does so we understand and support each other. Friends are a bit harder. I am a social person and working alone in my shop isn’t always what I want. I certainly welcome visitors and am considering taking on some students.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nemoman

Very impressive, Mark--your innovative ideas continue to amaze me!

Trying new ideas can be a bit scary but, I’m happier scared than bored!

Thanks! There is a lot more to come on this. Right now I have the headstock and heel designs on the drawing board. It will be a Black Walnut neck and I’m trying to work the Gotoh Stealth tuners into the mix.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ukejon

You truly are a Renaissance man, Mr. Hatcher, an ornamental genius.

* Edit: Just to be clear Mark, you are not ornamental but your guitars are......didn't want you to get your hopes up!

Thanks ukejon! I’m happy for the guitars to be the ornamental center of this venture!

I bet you get lots of interest from potential students!!! I sure hope so, if you decide to go that way.

This is fun!!

Paul

Thanks Paul, I do get inquiries from folks interested in being students especially since I’ve become the leader of the Granite State Luthiers Guild. I intend to start doing some teaching next year and work out what would work best for students and my shop schedule. Currently I’ve been giving workshops on photography/e-commerce at the local Makerspace, photography clubs, and artist groups which I enjoy but not as much as I enjoy building guitars!

Moving along on this throated port. There's a lot of clean up to do but, these pictures should give an idea of how the sound port is going to look;

Thanks for viewing!
Mark

This is SO COOL Mark! I had an idea of an internal cone to "amplify" the sound coming out of the sound port but this is a much more elegant way to execute it. Really interested to know what difference it imparts on the sound when it's strung up!

This is SO COOL Mark! I had an idea of an internal cone to "amplify" the sound coming out of the sound port but this is a much more elegant way to execute it. Really interested to know what difference it imparts on the sound when it's strung up!

Thanks Marcus,

I have high expectations. If you hold the body like you’re playing the guitar and blow air into the sound hole you get a burst of air right in the face. Time will tell!

I have high expectations. If you hold the body like you’re playing the guitar and blow air into the sound hole you get a burst of air right in the face.
Mark

Even if this was all that port was for i'd say that would make it worthwhile!!!

I haven't been keeping up with this thread recently so I hadn't seen this fantastic idea, not only is it interesting and super cool, but coincidentally only a few weeks ago I was in the workshop working on my current guitar build, there was another guy working there that day who builds loudspeakers and he was asking me whether or not I 'tuned' my soundhole as he does the ports on his speakers. As yet I have not 'tuned' a soundhole and i'm not exactly sure how i would, but its definitely something i'm keeping in mind to be considering during future builds.

Is your port here actually 'tuned'? or is it more of an air/sound routing system?

Even if this was all that port was for i'd say that would make it worthwhile!!!

I haven't been keeping up with this thread recently so I hadn't seen this fantastic idea, not only is it interesting and super cool, but coincidentally only a few weeks ago I was in the workshop working on my current guitar build, there was another guy working there that day who builds loudspeakers and he was asking me whether or not I 'tuned' my soundhole as he does the ports on his speakers. As yet I have not 'tuned' a soundhole and i'm not exactly sure how i would, but its definitely something i'm keeping in mind to be considering during future builds.

Is your port here actually 'tuned'? or is it more of an air/sound routing system?

David

Thanks for commenting David. To answer your question I can only say yes and no. Speaker cabinets and guitars are very different animals. Typically if they are designing in a tuned sound port for a speaker they are tuning the port to a specific frequency band which is part of the overall design for the speaker. With a soundport we’re trying to sculpt the sound for “the guy behind the speaker” while not deminishing the sound for the listeners out front.
So the “guy behind the speaker” is the player and he can already hear the lower frequencies because lower frequencies tend to fill an area and aren’t as directional as the higher frequencies. So what we’re after is to bring some of those higher frequencies around the corner for the player. We want a pretty wide frequency band so it doesn’t sound like we attached a little transistor radio on the side of the guitar.
Another difference between a speaker cabinet and an acoustic guitar is the speaker is attached to potentially a lot more power where the guitar is limited to the power of six little vibrating strings, so efficiency is a really big deal with guitars. Asking those strings to vibrate a heavily braced top or a heavy bridge is robbing energy that could otherwise go to sound production. The drag of the air going through sound holes and sound ports can steal volume as well.
My purpose is to increase efficiency by cutting some drag and more effectively guide the higher frequencies directly at the player.
I’ve done reasearch on this for awhile and luckily have Alan Carruth in our Granite State Luthiers group who was very helpful. We also have an acoustic engineer who has worked designing speakers.

Thanks for commenting David. To answer your question I can only say yes and no. Speaker cabinets and guitars are very different animals. Typically if they are designing in a tuned sound port for a speaker they are tuning the port to a specific frequency band which is part of the overall design for the speaker. With a soundport we’re trying to sculpt the sound for “the guy behind the speaker” while not deminishing the sound for the listeners out front.
So the “guy behind the speaker” is the player and he can already hear the lower frequencies because lower frequencies tend to fill an area and aren’t as directional as the higher frequencies. So what we’re after is to bring some of those higher frequencies around the corner for the player. We want a pretty wide frequency band so it doesn’t sound like we attached a little transistor radio on the side of the guitar.
Another difference between a speaker cabinet and an acoustic guitar is the speaker is attached to potentially a lot more power where the guitar is limited to the power of six little vibrating strings, so efficiency is a really big deal with guitars. Asking those strings to vibrate a heavily braced top or a heavy bridge is robbing energy that could otherwise go to sound production. The drag of the air going through sound holes and sound ports can steal volume as well.
My purpose is to increase efficiency by cutting some drag and more effectively guide the higher frequencies directly at the player.
I’ve done reasearch on this for awhile and luckily have Alan Carruth in our Granite State Luthiers group who was very helpful. We also have an acoustic engineer who has worked designing speakers.

Hope that was helpful!
Mark

Thanks Mark! Very helpful as ever!
You brought up exactly my thought about tuning the soundhole, there is a very large frequency band created by the guitar and if I tuned that to a specific range, what would happen to the rest of the frequency range? and if I tuned it to the 'whole range' how would that differ from the current soundholes.

I understand and agree with your thoughts about the soundport too, it's a brilliant concept as well as design.
When you record the guitar, it would be cool if you could headmount a mic or place one where the players head is so we can get an idea of the soundport result.

I've spent the past number of weeks doing finer design work and developing my strategy to actually build an all new neck for this guitar. I've made a couple dummies just to be sure and I am finally back at it!

This will be a Black Walnut neck with a Black Ebony center strip. It will have a very open headstock with Gotoh Stealth tuners.

I've also been sourcing additional materials that will contribute to my vision for the sound and look of this instrument. Of course, it's always fun to get new stuff! I just received an assortment of Buffalo Bone nut and saddle blanks that have an excellent "ping" and will give me a nice color assortment to choose from when the time comes;